The two inaugural sessions of the newly elected Shura (consultative) Council—the upper house of Egypt##s Parliament—were held yesterday. As per the March 2011 Constitutional Proclamation, the oldest of the 270 elected members, Mohamed Hassan al-Meleigi, presided over the sessions
The two inaugural sessions of the newly elected Shura (consultative) Council—the upper house of Egypt##s Parliament—were held yesterday. As per the March 2011 Constitutional Proclamation, the oldest of the 270 elected members, Mohamed Hassan al-Meleigi, presided over the sessions. The elected members took the constitutional oath, again several of them added the clause “as long as it does not violate the sharia of Allah” as a number of People##s Assembly MPs did when they took the oath. Even though Meleigi tried to stop that practice, warning that it was highly irregular, the MPs persisted.
The Muslim Brotherhood##s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) MP Ahmed Fahmy unanimously elected as Speaker of the Shura. Fahmy has been a professor with the Zaqaziq University since 1993.
At 105 out of a total 180 elected seats, the Muslim Brotherhood##s FJP won the lion’s share of the Shura Council, followed by the Salafi al-Nour Party with 45 seats. According to the Constitutional Proclamation, as soon as a president is elected, he appoints the remaining one third of the Shura Council##s seats.
Next Saturday, both houses of the Parliament conduct a joint session, which will be attended by Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, Head of the Military Council as well as other representatives of the ruling Military Council.
Watani International
29 February 2012